For the last three months in Tonga, it has been more like Life in Monochrome.

For three months, Tongans and culturally appropriate volunteers/missionaries/expats have been wearing black, black and more black to show respect to the Royal Family after the passing of the Late King.

The three month mourning period ended this week and I feel like the first day of spring sunshine after a long, stormy winter. Or maybe I’m being a little dramatic. But it’s nice not to have to wear black everyday.

Black shows up every bit of lint and fluff that my dodgy washing machine plasters all over my clothes. Black may be slimming but it’s BORING, when repeated on end. Black clothes seem to store more heat. When you are already sweating against the 95% humidity, this is not a good thing.

And when everyone else in the entire country is wearing the same colour, the Saturday fair runs out of black clothes.

So, a rather un-stylish style post to celebrate the return of colour.

Hannah is wearing a denim jacket she thrifted from the Saturday fair. A red t-shirt that her friend Bronnie sent her. A maxi skirt from the fashion house of Big W. A necklace given to her as a birthday present and wedges from the only shop in town that carries her size.